Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 6: Poster I

BP 6.56: Poster

Montag, 1. April 2019, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2

DNA Damage and its Influence on the Mechanical Properties of the Nucleus — •Nora Olszok¹, Alia Dos Santos², Christopher Toseland², and Florian Rehfeldt¹ — ¹University of Göttingen - Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics — ²University of Kent

In response to DNA damage actin is imported into the nucleus, nuclear actin strands are formed and the chromatin structure is remodeled [C. P. Caridi et al. Nature (2018); C. Andrin at al. eLife (2015); M. J. Kruhlak et al. The Journal of Cell Biology (2006)]. This change in the nuclear "cytoskeleton" might change the mechanical properties of the nucleus. We investigated such potential changes with a combined study using fluorescent microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Following systematically induced DNA damage by cisplatinum we measured the mechanical properties of isolated nuclei and nuclei in whole adhered cells. Here, we collected force maps of the nucleus and its surroundings and extracted an effective Young’s modulus. Complementary we use fluorescence microscopy to assess the amount of DNA damage (by staining for phosphorylation of the histone H2A.X.) that can be quite heterogeneous within a cell population treated with cisplatinum. These measurements were complemented with similar experiments on elastic polyacrylamide (PA) gels to acoount for the diverse in vivo micro-environments cells encounter.

In summary, we see a clear impact of DNA damage on nuclear mechanics, that might help to elucidate further the underlying mechanisms of cellular damage remedy.